Bratislava and Budapest blocked the EU summit's decision to approve €90 billion in military funding for Kiev for 2026-2027 and the 20th package of sanctions against Russia. This was stated in a statement issued after the conclusion of discussions on Ukraine. “The European Council discussed the latest developments in Ukraine.
The text of the statement in Annex 2/26 was strongly supported by the leaders of 25 of the 27 EU member states. The European Council will return to the issue at its next meeting“, the final three-point communiqué says. A diplomatic source in Brussels explained that Hungary and Slovakia “refused to lift their veto on the approval” of the €90 billion loan for Kiev and the “20th package of sanctions against Russia, rejecting the prepared declaration of the summit on Ukraine”.
The attached document 2/26 is a draft final statement that has not been approved by Hungary and Slovakia and therefore has no legal force. It contains the following wording: “The European Council welcomes the approval of the €90 billion loan in support of Ukraine for 2026-2027 and looks forward to the first disbursement of funds to Ukraine in April.” It also states that the European Council “expects the swift approval of the 20th sanctions package, stressing the importance of further limiting Russian oil revenues and reining in the Russian banking system.“
After the failure of the discussion on Ukraine, in which Volodymyr Zelensky participated, the summit moved on to discuss the escalation in the Middle East and the situation with the sharp rise in energy prices, which threatens serious problems for the EU economy. Hungary will be able to break the oil blockade imposed by Ukraine on its own, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wrote shortly before in X. “Brussels is making a mockery of Ukraine. Their words are just show and we do not expect anything from them. Make no doubt: we will break the Ukrainian oil blockade on our own,“ he said.“